Who pays the tax when a substitute delivers on my account?

You declare everything your account earned. What you pay the substitute is your expense and their income, and they declare it on their own return.

By JoltMilePublished 29/09/2026

Last checked 29/09/2026.

The platform pays you and reports all of it to HMRC in your name, whoever did the deliveries. Deliveroo says this explicitly. So your turnover is the full amount the account earned.

What you pass on to the substitute is a cost of your business and comes off your profit, as long as you can show it: keep the dates, the amounts and ideally a simple invoice from them. Pay by bank transfer rather than cash so there is a record.

The substitute has self-employed income of their own, the amount you paid them. If it is over the £1,000 trading allowance they must register and file a return. Miles belong to whoever drove them.

Was this useful?Sign in to say so

Related

GuideDeliveroo

Substitutes, account sharing and the new right to work rules

Self-employed riders can usually send someone else to do the work. That right comes with rules on every platform, a tax position most substitutes and account holders get wrong, and from October 2026 a legal duty on the platforms to check who is actually working.

Account & platform problemsUpdated 29/09/2026

GuideUber

What the platforms tell HMRC about your earnings

Since 2024 every delivery and ride app has to collect your tax details and report what it paid you to HMRC once a year. There is no minimum for services. Here is what is reported, when, why it will not match your return, and what to do with the copy you are sent.

HMRC & taxUpdated 29/09/2026

Guide

Allowable expenses for delivery drivers: the full list

What you can claim, what you cannot, and the ones that depend on how you have claimed for your vehicle. Written for drivers using the mileage method, because most are.

Mileage & expensesUpdated 20/08/2026

GuideDeliveroo

Riding for Deliveroo: the full guide

How Deliveroo works for a rider: what you need to join, how each fee is worked out, the pay floor agreed with the GMB union, when the money arrives, the insurance Deliveroo gives you for free, and the parts that are left to you.

Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026

GuideAmazon Flex

When each app pays you, and why the date matters for tax

Most apps pay weekly, on different days, with a fee to get it sooner. Evri pays monthly. The pay date decides how much cash you need in reserve and, at the start and end of the year, which tax year the money falls in.

Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026

ArticleJust Eat

Deactivation rules, platform by platform

Every platform publishes its own list of what gets an account paused or closed, and its own way to challenge it. Some give you four weeks, some review automatically, some never let you back. Here is what each one says.

Account & platform problemsUpdated 29/09/2026